Ford Motor Co. reinstated a quarterly dividend of 5 cents per share on Thursday for the first time since the No. 2 U.S. automaker slid into a financial crisis five years ago.

The dividend will be paid to owners of common shares on Jan. 31, 2012, and to Class B shareholders on March 1, 2012.

"We have demonstrated our capability to finance our plans and we are confident that we can begin to pay a dividend that will be sustainable through economic cycles," Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth said in a statement.

Ford last paid a quarterly dividend of 5 cents a share in September 2006, the same month that Alan Mulally became Ford's chief executive.

Mulally is credited with steering the automaker back from the brink of bankruptcy with $23 billion in borrowing and a plan, dubbed "One Ford," to simplify and unify product development and supplies.